On the fourth day, Tamura Hao was secretly escorted by Tutai to the research division hidden deep inside a mountain. He wore a mask the entire time to prevent his identity from being exposed.
"So that's one of the Eight-Tails' tentacles?"
Looking through the reinforced glass at the enormous sealed appendage inside, Tamura Hao found the Eight-Tails' physiology hard to comprehend.
A lower body made of octopus tentacles simply couldn't provide stable support. Structurally speaking, it was far too unreasonable.
"The Third Raikage suppressed the Eight-Tails multiple times," Tutai explained from beside him.
"During those battles, he severed many of its tentacles. All of them were sealed and preserved.
"Our village once produced two geniuses—though also the most vicious criminals—Kinkaku and Ginkaku. They consumed the Nine-Tails' flesh and gained its power. We attempted to replicate that result, but never succeeded."
Tutai sighed.
Back then, Kinkaku and Ginkaku had been terrifyingly powerful. If the Third Raikage hadn't mastered Hell Stab, he might not have been able to break through their Tailed Beast Cloaks at all.
"You mentioned before that the village's approach to tailed beasts was modeled after the First Hokage's wife—using sealing techniques to bind a tailed beast within a powerful shinobi," Tamura Hao said thoughtfully.
"But Kumogakure's sealing techniques aren't advanced enough to handle a complete tailed beast.
"Still, a complete tailed beast is naturally difficult to seal. But what about just a portion? That shouldn't be too hard—and it would be far safer than directly consuming tailed beast flesh."
As he spoke, his gaze remained fixed on the massive tentacle.
This wasn't purely his own idea. In the future, Yakushi Kabuto would seal an Eight-Tails horn grown by Orochimaru into Fukai's body, allowing him to unleash tailed beast power.
There was also the pseudo–Nine-Tails jinchūriki from the Fire Temple—someone who became a jinchūriki purely through collected Nine-Tails chakra.
Both cases proved that this path was feasible.
Smack!
"How did we not think of that?!"
Tutai froze for a moment, then slapped himself hard before breaking into excited laughter.
Exactly—sealing a full tailed beast was difficult, but sealing tailed beast flesh was a completely different matter.
"This token will grant you unrestricted access within the research division."
Tutai handed over a metal authorization tag, then hurried off enthusiastically to report this breakthrough to the Third Raikage.
If this approach worked, Kumogakure would strike gold.
"Give me a piece of the Eight-Tails' flesh," Tamura Hao said to the ANBU guarding the sealed chamber.
The ANBU ninja, having witnessed Tutai's attitude toward Tamura Hao, didn't question the request. He opened the chamber and retrieved a pre-cut specimen from the preserved tentacle samples, handing it over.
"So this is tailed beast chakra…"
Inside the bottle layered with sealing formulas, crimson chakra seeped from the flesh itself.
Tamura Hao could immediately tell—that was the Eight-Tails' chakra.
"Where are the Sharingan stored?" he asked, sealing the bottle into a storage scroll he'd brought with him.
"Follow me."
The ANBU formed a clone and led Tamura Hao to the laboratory responsible for Sharingan research.
Seeing the ANBU escort and the Raikage advisor's authorization, the researchers asked no questions.
"Do you have any discarded Sharingan?" Tamura Hao asked after briefly reviewing the research reports.
He understood that the true value of the Sharingan lay in its ocular chakra (dōryoku). The eye's physical structure was secondary—and Kumogakure had already finished studying that aspect.
"There are."
Relieved that Tamura Hao only wanted unusable specimens, the researcher retrieved several preservation jars containing four dissected Sharingan.
"Give me a quiet room."
Taking the jars, Tamura Hao requested a private space.
The researcher led him to an adjacent rest room.
"I hope this works…"
Murmuring softly, Tamura Hao took out a single Sharingan and held it in his palm. He refined chakra, enveloped it, and activated Chakra Absorption.
Chakra absorption techniques weren't rare. Many ninjutsu possessed chakra-draining properties—especially Earth and Water Release techniques.
In the future, Jirōbō of the Sound Four would use Earth Release: Earth Prison Dome of Magnificent Nothingness, while Kisame Hoshigaki could absorb chakra directly.
Tamura Hao's version, however, was crude—something he'd obtained through Tutai. It focused on absorption but lacked true refinement, and without Earth or Water Release, its efficiency was even lower.
Under the technique's strain, the already-damaged Sharingan shattered. The released dōryoku was wrapped by Tamura Hao's chakra and absorbed, tinting his pale-blue chakra with streaks of crimson.
But this was only mixing, not fusion.
The Sharingan's dōryoku far exceeded the quality of Tamura Hao's chakra.
This was the core limitation of chakra absorption—it couldn't refine chakra of higher grade than the user's own.
Still, that was enough.
He never intended to refine the Sharingan's power himself.
That was what his cheat was for.
Taking a deep breath, Tamura Hao slammed the crimson chakra against his forehead, guiding it into the spiritual space where the jade fragment resided.
As expected, the Sharingan's dōryoku was immediately detected by the fragment and treated as an invasive element—suppressed and dismantled on instinct.
Four spectral imprints were peeled away—identical to the previous encounter.
Tamura Hao glanced at them, then used the jade fragment's power to crush the imprints of Hagoromo Otsutsuki, Isshiki Otsutsuki, and the fourth, highest-tier presence.
He pushed the shattered imprint essence toward Kaguya Otsutsuki's spectral form.
Just as he had predicted, Kaguya's imprint instinctively devoured it—especially the fragments of Isshiki and Hagoromo, which vanished fastest. The final imprint resisted more fiercely, but once broken down, it posed no real threat.
As the three imprints were consumed, Kaguya's spectral form became slightly more solid.
Then Tamura Hao fed the Sharingan's dōryoku to it.
A pinpoint of blood-red light appeared at Kaguya's brow.
"So the hypothesis was correct."
Tamura Hao's eyes gleamed.
"One can awaken and strengthen Kaguya Otsutsuki's will through chakra—especially chakra inherited from Hagoromo's bloodline. That carries the strongest imprint."
This aligned perfectly with his theory based on the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Kaguya hadn't said she would take chakra—she said she would reclaim it.
That proved it had always been hers.
Which also explained why no shinobi could truly resist her. Compared to facing Isshiki or other Ōtsutsuki, Kaguya exerted suppression at the level of bloodline and chakra origin itself.
Unless one reached Six Paths–level existence, resistance was nearly impossible.
And that was exactly what Tamura Hao wanted.
There was also one more, very practical reason.
Of the four imprints, Kaguya was the only female—and judging by what little remained of her will, she seemed… simpler.
If this imprint ever developed true consciousness, she would be far easier to deal with.
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